Light within the darkness
by Mordamir
Summary: The life story of an honored officer within the Empire. Contain references to Galactic Battle Grounds and Rogue Squadron.


Disclaimer: Do I need to tell you that I don't own Star Wars and that this is just a fan work, aiming no profits? Well, that's the true…

**LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS**

Greetings young one. My name is Isaac Herington, but people knew me as Admiral Moff Herington. That's strange isn't it? A high rank officer like me, laying in this prison cell, waiting for judgment. Well, I guess that's expectable since I was on the losing side of this war, and now I'm just another war criminal. Besides, I don't regret anything that I did. I mean, if I had the choice today, I wouldn't do any of that. But at the time I didn't know what the empire was about, so my ideals were genuine, and this is what I count for.

I am natural of Reytha, the famous empire's cellar. The rural planet that fed more than ten percent of the whole empire army. Anyway, my father, Jonathan Herington was just a common farmer. A very strict man that raised me and my brothers as the men that we were. My mother, I don't know. She died just after giving birth to my youngest brother. I was young enough to not remember anything about her.

Apparently, my life would be just the average life of any other farm worker in Reytha. But my desire for adventure, or perhaps the fact that I was the unexpressive middle brother made me feel the need to prove my worth to my family, or even a combination of both motives led me, when I was fifteen, to enlist in the imperial cadets academy. There I learned everything that a future officer of the empire army should know. At the end of the course, I had excelled in starfighters and so I was directed to the imperial fleet. Heh, back there I was just an ordinary beginner, eager to prove myself in combat and didn't have any great ambitions. For me, if I ever made flight leader, I would be in heaven.

I can feel, even today, the thrill of my first battle. It was so exciting to enter for the first time in my TIE fighter with the knowledge that I would kill or be killed, that it felt like the first time that I had entered one of those at all. At that time I couldn't care less if our enemy was fighting because they claimed the Imperial taxes abusive or any of that crap. For me, all that mattered was that a bunch of no good rebels were disturbing the law. And for that they would pay. I guess that there were no aces in our foe's forces because, even if our forces were formed by a lot of newbies, our losses were very low, and we decimated them.

There were real good pilots in our side, as a matter of fact, that was when I met Kasan Moor. At the time she was only Master Sergeant, but her flying skills were mesmerizing nonetheless. I started to go by her example; a high honored ace that left nothing in her path towards the Empire's supremacy and rightfulness. The funny thing was: I was older than her…

Time passed and I was reassigned to several squadrons and missions as well; I never saw my role model again. Eventually I was promoted to Master Sergeant myself, and it felt quite good. I already had a few men assigned under my orders and, due to brilliant tactics that earned us some victories, my name started to be known among the imperial fleet. I also had the reputation of being a crazy pilot, one of those that would fly a completely unarmed craft, full loaded with high capacity explosives trough the enemy territory, under heavy fire. And that was exactly what I did.

During the war over Belloris, a planet that, dire I say, was completely irrelevant. Anyway, during that war, things were not going well for the empire, which was quickly losing. In a last effort, the intelligence came up with a desperate plan: they would detonate the rebel alliance's main base with the empire's current entire reserves of thermal detonators. The problem was, who would pilot the shuttle carrying all those explosives trough the enemy lines? That's when someone mentioned my name and they got a hold of me. During the academy, we were taught, well kind of brain washed, that our lives belonged to the empire, and it would be our highest honor to die for it. So, I didn't think twice before accepting the suicidal mission, and for some sort of miracle I survived. There were so many blasters and missiles trying to bite me that you must had to see it! It was not just once that I doubted myself from volunteering to that mission. Of course I didn't escape unharmed; a missile got the belly of my shuttle and the resulting explosion penetrated within the cockpit. A flying splinter, the size of baseball ball, nailed my left leg and that's why I limp until today. That was also my first Purple Heart medal.

As the rebel's base exploded, several of the rebel's key personal died. It was a great defeat to them, and totally unexpected. To avoid total destruction, they had to flee leaving a great deal of resources and other goods. That was such a harsh blow to the rebel alliance that since them, it switched places with the Empire. The hunter became the prey. And the emperor seemed really bent into dissolving the rebels for good. You see, before Belloris, the rebel alliance was just a big annoyance, but things changed. Since the Empire was not expecting such strength, they almost won Belloris, and that was it. Emperor Palpatine decided that the rebels were something to be weary of; as that old saying goes, if you let your problems grow, they will only get bigger. They proved to be a respectful threat. And for that, they would go down.

This episode gave me another promotion, now I was Second Lieutenant, and was given a small squadron, based in the Empire's newest weapon, the Death Star. Rumors said that the rebels got hold of the Star's blueprints and that with it they could find someway to destroy the ultimate weapon. In the Death Star, we laughed. It was completely ridiculous to think that that bunch of decaying misfits would be able to do anything against us. Of course, there was one man that thought otherwise, the dreaded Darth Vader, emperor's personal henchman and many other things that I was skeptical at the time. Anyway, he was proved right, as you probably know.

Darth Vader and his personal goons captured an ambassadress from Alderaan claiming that she was hiding the blueprints. Of course she was not with it and he ordered a vast search among the nearby planets. A small troop was ordered to go to a planet called Tatooine. Personally, I had never heard of that planet and when I asked, people said that it wasn't worth to know anyway; just a big desert, hot as hell. Back to Vader and his prisoner; I believe that her name was Princess Lea or something in these lines. Well, after some "convincement" from his part, the lady opened her mouth and let it slip that Alderaan itself was the new rebel base.

I had heard of the power of the death Star. I honestly thought that it was just exaggerated rumors and stuff, but boy I was wrong. The thing completely destroyed the entire planet. So many innocent lives lost because of that rebel scum. I was ashamed from our own actions, but blamed it at the rebels saying that if it wasn't for them, that would not be necessary. At the moment, I also remembered my role model, Kasan Moor. As I recalled, she was from Alderaan. I thought how hard for her would be the loss of all her dear relatives and other important folks. At the moment, I prayed to whichever being that was above us that it would save my planet from the same path.

Something interesting happened. While I was on a solo patrol among the planet's debris, a starcraft came out of hyperspace. I was almost going after it when my flight coordinators ordered me to led them to the Death Star. I wondered what was so special about that run down ship, but orders were orders. What a blast! It turned out that the blueprints really went to Tatooine, and a couple of crazy rebels decided to give them back to the main alliance and also, they wanted that Princess Lea back to boot. After a major ruckus, they actually rescued her and fled. I lost two men that were the assigned pilots to stop them. I was angry about that. But was even angrier when I discovered that they had died in vain. It was all a set up from Darth Vader himself to make the small rebel force to reveal their true base unwillingly. To die because it was a part of the war is something. To die because you're just a stupid decoy plot is unforgiving. One more thing for my list of things that I disliked Lord Darth Vader for.

And so we finally discovered that the rebels were in Yavin IV. Immediately Darth Vader ordered the destruction of the entire planet, again. I really disliked that man. It was sickening how he mistreated all those innocent people that would die because of a minority. Anyway, the rebel alliance wouldn't die without a fight, even if it was a stupid one. As we saw several starfighters heading towards the Death Star, I couldn't help but feel something stirring deep within my stomach; I was the living proof that desperate moves could be disconcerting effectives. So, when the order came, I was one of the first pilots to take off in order to engage the incoming attack. That time I did very well, as with the passing experiences, my flight skills grew almost exponentially. Besides, what was left of the rebel Alliance at the time was pitiful. A lot of wrecked fighters and several junky bombers? Come on, what where they expecting to accomplish?

But the most unthinkable thing happened. They really succeed in destroying the Death Star. I never got to know exactly what they did, but certainly there were weaknesses that they could and had exploited. I guess we could learn something from that. No matter how superior your enemy seems, you can always turn the tide of the battle. I sure knew that already, but was too cocky at the time to remember anything. That defeat was a good call back to reality.

I guess I was lucky. Or some god or that thing that Lord Vader believed, the Force, had it for me. My TIE fighter was cauth in the Death Star's explosion resulting shockwave, and was thrown into Yavin IV's orbit. Miraculously, I survived the crash. It was a rough time, lost in a hostile planet without ways to ask for help. The worse part was that it was killing me the though of who also survived. I couldn't be the sole survivor right? Well, but things really got worse; I was captured by the rebels. But it was better to be a prisoner than to die in the wilderness, I guess. Anyway, it was refreshing to see that other empire pilots did survive just like me, and also, as me, they were captured by the rebels. This last part was not that nice.

General Dodonna's men treated us rather nicely, for war prisoners, that is. But it was not important; it's difficult to tell, but I believe that we spent a week and a half as rebel's hostages, before we were rescued. It seemed that Darth Vader also survived the Death Star's explosion and managed to go back to another imperial base, and now was back to get revenge at the rebels. Meaning, they were not there for us. They were there to get revenge against the rebels. In the end, we were rescued and the rebels either killed or got their brains turned into jelly after the mind probes. That was General Dodonna's destiny. And it was alarming to know that they had great plans for Reytha.

As I feared, Darth Vader hurried like hell to stop whatever it was that the rebels were up to. I was relieved that there was no more Death Stars so my folks would be relatively safe. Anyway, I feared for my planet and against the medical recommendations, I insisted in being sent within the expedition that would go to Reytha. I was even sent to Darth Vader's presence for that. Imagine, I despised the man, and yet, he complimented me in my loyalty to the Empire. I don't think he would be that happy if he knew that I wanted to go so I hoped to save my folks from him. Ironically, now I was in his good book.

During the trip to Reytha, I couldn't be assigned into any starfighter squad, so I was stuck with the infantry. Ha, imagine me, a decorated starfighter, running, or rather, limping trough all sorts of terrains holding a blaster. Humiliating.

As we arrived, the 1234th battalion was one of the first to spread trough the planet. We met with a rather nasty rebel resistance. Not that it was that strong or anything, but our hurry to get in Reytha made us move quicker than it was safe. We were unprepared for the size of the rebellion there. I honestly say that we survived that time only because Darth Vader was with us. I mean, his strength was unreal. He obliterated rebel force after rebel force. Whatever is it that he plays with that Force of his, it sure is powerful. I didn't like him before, and I still didn't like him, but unlike before, now I respected him.

Five days after we arrived, I was made recon agent. It was my home planet after all; no one there knew the place better than I. So I pulled the strings saying that the most strategic position for us would be near the Montrosa islands, my former home. Actually it was really strategic. Anyway, all that I wanted and cared for at the time was to make sure my family was ok. What wasn't my surprise when those islands where the mains focus of the planet's rebellion?

The situation was already so bad that we had to set up an emergency base there. Once the equipment arrived, I was finally assigned to a TIE fighter, what a relief. I never gave much thought to the infantry before, now I see that they were real heroes. And I didn't want to be another one of those heroes. It was a nightmare to face the enemy with only a stupid useless armor and a light blaster canon in my hands. Come on, those guys were far more suicidal than I was with a ship in my hands! And THAT is saying something…

Anyway, I took advantage of my newfound prestige in the imperial lines to pull strings again and went in patrol to my former house. What I saw shocked me. It was almost destroyed. I landed my craft in front of the place and in an instant was entering the household. I was sure to find someone since it was established the martial law. Once inside I took off my helmet and yelled at full lungs for anyone. I cried the name of my two brothers and my father. The only one that came and greeted me was my elder brother, Jeff. After we reminisced about the old times he told me what I feared the most. All that war had entered our house. Accordingly to him, my younger brother, Richard, was enveloped by the rebel's ideals and defected to the accursed rebellion. Sensing that, my father confronted him and in the end Richard killed dad.

I couldn't believe it! My own brother killed our father in the name of the rebellion? All my doubts about the empire's rightfulness, which I cultivated since Alderaan, were destroyed with that. What kind of good faction would make their members kill their own relatives? At that moment I vowed to hunt my own brother down, along with those rebel bastards. I helped Jeff, who was injured, to my fighter, but disaster occurred. Some damned rebel trooper was passing trough the place and shot at us. Jeff screamed in agony as a blaster charge punctured him trough the chest. Immediately I was discharging my own blaster at that bastard rebel, effectively killing him, them I turned to Jeff. My brother died in my arms, and just before it, he made me promise that I would avenge him and dad, and that I would not see Richard as our brother anymore. I readily agreed, after all, that was exactly what I had vowed moments before to myself.

That whole ordeal enraged me much more than anything had ever done. I mindlessly took my TIE fighter and went to the nearest Rebel base. It was totally stupid of me to do that. But excuse a hatred filled person that saw his own brother die in his arms and asked vengeance to you. Up to now, I still don't know exactly how I managed it, but the fact is that I avoided missiles that could have downed an entire fleet, dealt with several enemy fighter and managed to explode their commander center, along with their energy source, effectively stopping the entire facility. Trough the radio I called reinforcements telling about the enemy's current situation.

It happens that I unknowingly hampered one of the Rebel Alliance's major bases. And that was exactly what we needed. As the battle location was the Montrosa islands, naval forces were as just indispensable than aerial force. We destroyed the rebel's entire naval force in that last attack. Shortly after that, the enemy forces were reduced to nothing. A completely victory over Reytha. Well, it turns out that my brother was killed by someone else or managed to run away. It was bittersweet, I felt bad for not fulfilling my oath about him, yet I really didn't want to kill my own brother. Anyway, I never saw him again. I don't think that I will ever be able to forgive him tough.

My exploits in Reytha and all the other stuff reached the high ranking officers; I was promoted to Second Lieutenant and assigned to my new task: I was one of the test pilots for the imperial newest craft. The TIE interceptor. A really selected group of four pilots were chosen to test those crafts. Not because we were the best pilots. Not to boost my own ego, but they wouldn't choose any ace to test starfighters that were so hurriedly produced after a ridiculous short project time. No, they would choose only the most reckless ones.

Yeah, the engineers were heavily pressed to devise a counter attack against that rebel starfighter, the X-wing. At the time it seemed very junky, but it was far superior then our regular TIE fighters, the Death Star's destiny was proof to that. And so they came up with that interceptor project. Anyway, we tested it, and boy it was awesome. I mean, the regular fighters were very agile and had no armor, nor shields for that matter. All that we had to protect us was our skill. These new interceptors still didn't have armor or shields, but they had devil's speed and far more agility than the old model. It was so intoxicating to fly in those machines that I swore I would never pilot another thing again.

It happens that I was lucky and assigned to the very first TIE interceptor squadron. It was an already existing TIE fighter squadron that was upgraded. The reason for that? They were simply the best the empire had to offer, the 128th squadron. At first I was not happy that I would not be the flight leader, after all I was the most experienced pilot with those machines; the other test pilots didn't like the interceptor and were sent back to the TIE fighters. Anyway, they already had a higher ranking officer to command us. I was surprised to know that I was flying under First Lieutenant Kasan Moor. So I met my inspiration model once again, and was back to her wing. But now I was not just a novice pilot anymore, I was an acknowledged imperial ace, just like her. And had my pride.

It really annoyed the hell out of me to not command a squadron. I mean, it was kind of a demotion after I was the flight leader of the 34th TIE fighter squadron back in the Death Star. Perhaps it was punishment for our failure back there. Or rather, MY failure since my squadron was totally annihilated back them. And in the imperial army, if you're the officer in charge, you usually are the responsible one for anyone's actions under your orders. I'll never know if that was the case.

Back to the subject, the 128th squadron's first mission was so successful that they decided to extend the availability of interceptors. Those crafts were soon present in everywhere. I mean, not in numbers, only in localizations; they were a lot more expensive than the fighters, that was why you didn't see that much of them outside the elite squadrons, but the few ones that you saw really made the difference. Things started to get rough for the rebel's, until then, unmatched air force.

Of course not all were roses. There was one specific rebel group which was a legend even among us, the Rogue Squadron. I heard that it was the rebel's equivalent to our 128th squadron, and that was soon proved to me when we clashed in Gerrard V.

It seemed that the planet was fighting for independence and the rebels were really bent on helping them. When word came that they were using that Rogue Squadron in that planet, we were immediately requested to fight. It was our first defeat. Even I was downed in that battle. But the worse was Kasan Moor's defection. The empire's best pilot decided to get rogue and allied herself with those scoundrels. Well, I couldn't blame her that much after what happened with her birth planet, Alderaan.

During their victory celebration, I managed to steal a rebel craft and returned to the Star Destroyer that housed our squadron. What I saw there really enraged me. Once again the squadron in which I flew was reduced to two or five pilots. As the current officer I was afraid to be punished, but the general commander, Moff Kohl Seerdon, was so enraged with Kasan Moor's actions that we were off the hook. Anyway, that was the end of the 128th squadron.

As I was the current highest ranking field officer in the air force, all the other higher officers died or, in Kasan's case, defected in Guerrard V, I was finally promoted to Flight commander. That's ironic, to be promoted into your dream's position because of a major defeat. But I didn't care at the time, all I cared for was the fact that now I was a reckoned top officer. My young year's dreams were far more than fulfilled, but as that old saying goes: the more you have, the more you want, eventually I would want more.

Something very disturbing started to happen. It seemed that the rebel's Rogue Squadron was bent on destroying some, seemingly small, but very important imperial facilities, like the Jade moon base and the construction yards. That's when things started to get rough. It was time to me to start to see the empire's evil ways. I mean, at the time I thought that it was only Moff Seerdon, but eventually I would realize that it was a common treat among us. Well, he devised a plot that could hamper the Rogues. Our counter intelligence spread the false information that the space port in Kile II was of crucial importance to the empire in that sector.

It happens that the place was not that important, strategically, I mean. Of course it was important! What about all the people that was there? To sacrifice that amount of good men just to get a few rebels, that weren't even the enemy's core! I was so happy and didn't know it when I just followed orders and didn't know about the true schemes. Congratulations to my new rank, this allowed me to know what truly happened within our lines.

At Kile II we captured one of the master rogues, one Wedge Antilles. When he was brought back to headquarters, the man was sent to interrogation. Heck, I knew what imperial interrogation was like, if it had anything related to Darth Vader's ways, or Moff Seerdon's, for that matter. I respected Wedge, he was an honored pilot, and I couldn't let him end his days as a zombie which brain was fried by our mind probes, so I decided to take his interrogation in my hands.

Besides, I owed all the rebels that I could capture a human treatment. That was how I and all the others were treated like back in Yavin IV, and I would return the favor. We were warriors in opposite sides, but still honored warriors, both of us. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to see they die, as well as that Wedge Antilles, but I would rather kill them in battle, a true warrior's death way.

Anyway, I had to confront and abuse my rank's prestige against the assigned man that were torturing Wedge. They claimed that it was Moff Seerdon who asked things to be done that way. I remember that I said something on the lines of "I was there and not Moff Seerdon. Want to be punished for disrespect against superior officer?" Well, I can't remember my exact words, but it was pretty much that. In the end, I couldn't get much from the prisoner, just some names. At the time I don't think that anyone in the empire knew the name of one Luke Skywalker, which would be soon VERY known. I didn't care about their leader, what got me really pissed was the fact that Kasan Moor was a Rogue pilot! Then it all sank in. All those raids in important secret places. It was all her doing!

In the end I sent Wedge to Kessel, a planet which was used as prison for political enemies. I was not sure what would be of him there, but it was sure better than staying near Moff Seerdon's grasp. How could I know that the Rogue Squadron would attempt a rescue? The worse part was that they didn't get only Wedge. No, they messed up with the entire prison system. Several important rebels were freed tat time. Yeah, that was my fault.

I thought that I would die because of that, but I got it light. Seerdon sent me to jail, accused of betrayal. I think I spent almost two years there. All the while I got word of the happenings. Moff Seerdon still fought his particular war against the Rogue Squadron, loosing badly, may I add. Not to boost my ego, but I was one of the few pilots that could rival them in the battlefield.

That was soon proved right when Moff Seerdon himself got me out of jail, and even restituted my rank, just so that I would take part in Thyferra's operation. It was discovered that the planet was the rebel's major medical source, with the place's ultra high bacta fluid production. It was obvious that the rebels would go all out to defend the planet. They would even be reckless enough to not regroup after attacking Sullust.

Sullust, another imperial facility sacrificed by Moff Seerdon. This time however, the place really was important to us in means of strategic. I was amazed (and really disgusted) at how Seerdon could toss all those lives aside in order to take revenge on a few people. Ok that the Rogues were a major pain in the empire's back, but twelve pilots, no matter how good they were, were not worth the hundreds of lives in Sullust.

As Seerdon knew that I would be against it, he played with my emotions. I was informed of all that only when the raid in Sullust was under way. I had several friends assigned to that base, and I wanted to avenge them, so I accepted to take over Thyferra. I didn't know the true about Sullust yet.

Moff Seerdon's plan proved to be very cleaver when the Rogues really showed up, barely arriving from Sullust. This time they didn't have that much of plans or strategies, the only thing that saved their hides that time was their flying skills. I can say that despite all things, that mission was good to me. I also had my revenge against them, since Gerrard V I had a bone to pick with them. Well, I killed one of them. Which one I don't know even today, and to avenge that pilot, the one that I wanted to fight the most confronted me, Kasan Moor.

I wanted to fight her for all that happened between us. No, I'm not saying anything about relationships. I never had even the slightest attraction towards her, and I doubt that she felt anything in those lines. What I mean is what happened with us about the time in which we flew together. Until her defection she was my inspiration, my role model, damn it! I wanted to prove that I was the better pilot! Not because I thought that I was superior on skill, but because I didn't took my enemy's side. I believed that, even if the empire destroyed her planet, it was the rebel alliance's fault. How could she side up with them?

Besides, a fight against someone that could very well take you down was thrilling like nothing else. My life was flying; there weren't many things that could rival the excitement of combat. Well, I guess that our fight was not a fight; it was more like a death dance. We fired, dodged and did all the other things you usually do in a dogfight with such precision that I remember people complimenting me for that later. I'm no fool concerning my abilities, Kasan was, or is, I dunno if she's alive today. Anyway, at skill, she was better than me. My advantage what that my TIE interceptor could fly circles around her X-wing, and she almost compensated it, almost. In the end I downed her.

Looking at her grounded craft, I contemplated shooting her again to end it all. I decided against it. Doing so would only send me to Seerdon's level. Where would be my honor in that? Besides, if she got out of her current predicament, I was sure we would meet in the air again, and so I would have my kill. I still don't know if it was a good idea or not, but that was the last time I met her.

Back to the story, I was so absorbed in those thoughts that a rebel shot me. Luckily, he just scratched my fuselage. I would face him when Moff Seerdon himself appeared to fight that very craft. I wanted to go against it myself, but orders were orders, and I went away. In my own account I took the task of aiding our ground troops, and looked now and then to the private battle that raged in the sky. Heh, now I know that Seerdon unwillingly saved my life. My radio was set to their frequency, and I discovered that he faced against that lad, Skywalker. The boy had unreal skills with that fighter of his. I never saw anyone flying like that. Luckily he also had eyes only for his foe. And that was the end of Moff Seerdon.

When Seerdon's craft exploded, I knew it was my turn to die in Skywalker's hands. But he said something to his squadron that got my attention. He said that they were to clean up the remaining imperials. That was when I took hold of our position. The imperial forces were being obliterated. Since Seerdon died, I was the highest officer, and decided to give retreat order. I was willing to die for the empire, but I was no fool. I wasn't going to die in vain. There was nothing that could give that battle to us. Also, I had to think about something that Seerdon never thought about, my men. There wasn't any gain in letting they die for nothing.

After that I was designed as the new Moff. Moff Herington, yeah, I liked that. And for sometime things seemed to go smooth for me and the men under my orders. Not that we won all the battles that we engaged. But the very few ones that weren't good for us, I managed to save all the men that I could. Soon I was prized among the entire fleet for being good to my men. One day, I was out, in one of the leaves that I shared with some pilots, the ones that flew right under me. Well, the guys decided to do as always and we went to a brothel. As we weren't in Coruscant, we didn't go to the usual ones. We were near a neutral planet, Bespin, and as several people always commented about the cloud city, we decided to check the place.

Well, if you stick to the upper levels, the place is really nice; the lowers layers? Not that much. Anyway, the brothel was in the lower layers, that's why we even thought about going there. I was a little afraid. The last time we went to such a place that was not in an imperial world, we ended within a rebel secret hideout and it was really hell to get out. This time however, we had a nice time. And I even met a special girl, Annie. Funny isn't it? Being enchanted by a prostitute. It happens that, several visits later, I finally convinced her to get out of that kind of life and married her. Further than that I don't feel like telling now. But the important part is: my life couldn't get better than that.

But it got. Aside from a loving wife (in the end, Annie also fell for me before we married, that was a surprise.), I had a respectable career in the empire and it grew even more. I was promoted to auxiliary admiral, and sent to perform in a Star Destroyer. Now I was among those that made the big decisions.

It had a downside tough. That rank got me to meet more and more with Lord Darth Vader. He was not as despicable as Seerdon was, but I really hated his guts. The most surprising thing was that he remembered who I was. What he mistook for extreme loyalty back in Reytha from me really impressed him. Not that he would show it or anything. But to a man like him to remember a random, at the time, sergeant, it was good enough proof if it.

Time passed and a probe droid reported that the rebels were hiding in Hoth. During the war council, we decided to use those monstrosities that made Veers famous back in Zoloriis. The AT-AT walkers. They would support the ground troops in the assault against the shield that was protecting the rebel's base against our ships. For a moment we all cheered, the walkers seemed unstoppable, the ultimate weapons. But then a series of crafts came up with a simple strategy, but a very effective one. They tied the walker's legs and these would fall without balance. It was never confirmed, but I was sure that it was all those Rogue's doing. However, even that was not enough to stop the empire this time. Eventually the shield generator was destroyed and the place conquered.

But our victory was somewhat hollow. Several rebel ships broke trough our blockade in space. Who could have guessed that the rebels had an oversized ion cannon that disabled almost all our captain ships? As that treat ended, we saw a rebel ship trying to flee. I recognized the ship. It was the same junky one that made all the ruckus back in the Death Star. And I think that Darth Vader also recognized them, because as they hided in the nearby asteroid field, the man ordered a desperate search. Perhaps that ship housed some special rebel unit? Or could it be that it was the ship of some important figure? Doesn't matter. Vader wanted that ship and he would have it.

I don't know why they simply didn't hyperspaced out of there but instead tried to hide in that asteroid field. Although they succeed, it was a strategically mistake. The weirdest part tough was that I got promoted for that! Lord Vader grew frustrated with our lack of results and "Telepathically" choked our current admiral. This time I really was scared. Do you realize that he chocked a man from hundreds of meters, miles away? That was when he addressed me and I looked at his helmet with terrorized eyes. "Don't disappoint me admiral." Everyone heard the man. I was the new admiral, the one in charge. But his words confused me. Would I disappoint him only because I would fail as any other, or was it because he had me in high opinion? Anyway, I had to succeed, or else I would be the next choked one.

As he kept looking at me, I almost panicked. What would I do? Well, I already had some ideas and decided to voice them. I didn't like Bounty hunters that much, but I was willing to try anything to save my own hide. But before I could say anything Vader turned away, dismissing me, and said something to his aid about calling bounty hunters. Was it only coincidence? Well, after he choked the former admiral from distance, I wouldn't be surprised if he had read my mind. That power of his was really something else.

The usage of bounty hunters proved to be a wise decision, as one of them predicted the rebel ship's moves and we were able to set a trap in Bespin. The place brought me good memories, about Annie and all. As we discussed Lord Vader's idea, about capturing the ship there, I was glad that Annie was living in Corruscant. There were no mentions of fighting the place, but I knew that if the smallest thing went wrong, Vader would order total occupation.

I was never directly involved in that ordeal, I already was a behind the scenes officer, above field operations. But I knew what happened down there, reports came to me after all. I became a little interested in why Lord Vader went trough all that trouble just to get one particular rebel. No other than Luke Skywalker. There sure was much more to that boy than amazing piloting skills. Now we know about it. But that's not part of my story.

Anyway, I discovered before a lot of people what was so special about the boy. Years after the Bespin incident, some of my men decided to spend their leave in a dangerous way. They headed for Tatooine, to the lair of a well known criminal, Jabba the hut. The place was also known as a great brothel. As I had an argument with Annie and she went to her mother's planet for some time, I decided to go with the guys. I love my wife and I never even thought of any other women, but I decided to go nonetheless just to check the place.

It was more a dance house than the place I was taking it for. Great music, great drinks and a lot of entertainment. There was a woman that cautch my attention. No, not in that way, I already said that since Annie I never desired any other women. It was different, I was sure I knew that woman from somewhere. The only time that I was sent to the emperor's presence, I was sure that I saw a woman hiding in the shadows. Strangely enough, I was also sure that they were the same person. That woman and the one that I was seeing in Jabba's lair, I mean. I went to talk to her and was roughly dismissed; all I could get was a name, surely a fake one: Mara Jade. But who knows? Anyway, that's not important.

It turned out that the one that the bounty hunter wanted back in Bespin was here. As well as the bounty hunter himself. I don't know exactly what the hell they did, but the friends of the guy inside the carbonite, who wanted to rescue him, of course, were there, infiltrated trough many forms. That was when the Skywalker boy, well; now a man, came. He was extremely arrogant, but if that title of Jedi knight had anything to do with the powers that Vader had as I've heard it had, well, the guy sure could be so arrogant.

Anyway, he fell right into Jabba's trap. A trap door that sent him to a rancor's clutches. Nasty things those rancors: big claws, big teeth and one hell of a savageness attitude. Guess what, the supposed Jedi killed it. Not with his amazing super powers, but with his brain. If you would ask me, it was pure luck. But then again, luck does win battles.

Of course that stunt irked Jabba to no end. And so Skywalker and his friends were sentenced to die in one of the worst ways that we could imagine. Be Sarlacc fodder or something like that. To be digested trough ten thousand years sure doesn't sound good…

Among with everyone at the place I went to see the execution. Turned out that the Jedi freed his friends and, with those that were infiltrated within Jabba's ranks, he put an end to the Hutt's existence. That was not my battle, rebels or not, the Skywalker's gang did a favor to the empire in getting rid of Jabba. I instructed my men to get out of there when the Jedi got to the main ship. As we jumped to the sand, at the opposite side of that Sarlacc thing, obviously, we were the sole survivors outside the rebel ranks. All that was left to do was walk trough the sand sea and hope for a miracle to survive. Blessed be Sergeant Axel Maelstrom. The guy knew how to ride Banthas, a specie of sand mammoth or whatever that lived there.

Back at the fleet, we had new orders: to guard the new Death Star's construction site. It brought me mixed feelings. In one hand I was glad to get a calm job; my recent share of action had being enough for the time being. In the other hand, another Death Star meant the same things that the first one meant. Namely, entire worlds at danger because of the rebels.

Well, being the admiral of the Executioner was something else. After all, that ship was the pride of the entire imperial fleet. Such a behemoth with more stopping fire power than three regular Star Destroyers together sure gave you a superiority feeling. The thing had a TIE fighter factory built inside itself for crying out loud!

The only downside was serving right under Darth Vader. As it was, he was the one who did all the real decisions. I was more of a decorative commanding officer there. Someone for him to vent his frustrations in case of some failure. Groovy…

It was a relief when that small shuttle that carried spare parts to the base in Endor came by. Something with that strange power of Vader told him to go after the shuttle. Well, anything that gets Vader out of proximity is good. Not that we were safe from him away…

Soon our orders changed. Vader said for us to hide at the other side of the planet, to wait for a rebel attack. This time I was pleased, No set ups that would kill our men, just your average ambush.

Things looked good, and yet, bad for us. The shield protected the Death Star, which was good. After all, that was what we were supposed to protect. However, that left us for the rebels to attack. But a battle was a battle; we had the chance to vanquish them. It was just fair that they could defend themselves.

In the end, such a big ship tends to attract unwanted attention. The rebel fleet decided to gang up on the Executioner. We went down. I once read somewhere that a captain must sink with his ship. But I thought of Annie and got inside an emergency pod after helping all the men that I could. We landed on Endor and eventually I was captured…again.

That leads us to now. Several years after the whole ordeal, I had enough time to thing trough all that happened. In the end, I kind of regret my actions. The empire was the bad side. But still, I'm proud of everything. I was honored, even if in the wrong side. I'll take my punishment with pride. All I did was in the name of an honest ideal.

Funny that I would tell my life's story to a complete stranger like you. But the fact is, after all these years, I've got lonely. I had to speak with someone. For listening me I thank you. And, could I ask you a favor?

Other than my life, the only thing that is in my mind, trough this entire time is my wife. When you get out of here, would you search for Annie Vorth Herington in Corruscant and tell her where I am? I would like her to know that I love her and always will. That's why she should move on and live the best that she can. I have no expectations that I'll get out of here. I know martial law. The only way for my now is death.

Still, she is the reason that I didn't accept my death back at the battle of Endor. I wanted to see her again. It's sad that I won't. But that is the way of war…

**END.**

**Author's notes**: Well, not much to say except that I REALLY enjoyed writing this. I don't know if this character already had a history. If not, this is my version. And as I believe, not everyone has a good ending. Still, for me it's VERY fitting.

As you probably know, this story has references to the movies and the video-games Galactic Battle Grounds and Rogue Squadron.


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